Meghan Markle to become British royalty

Meghan Markle will embark upon her transition from US actress to British royal by getting baptised in the Church of England ahead of her marriage to Prince Harry in Windsor Castle next May and applying for British citizenship, royal officials said on Tuesday.

“She intends to become a UK citizen. The process for that takes a number of years. She’ll retain the US citizenship during that process,” Harry’s spokesman Jason Knauf told reporters at a briefing.

Knauf said Harry and Markle, who are both passionate charity campaigners, planned to put their personal stamp on the wedding, adding: “They will be making sure it reflects who they are as a couple.”

They “want the public to feel part of their day.”

The couple will go to Nottingham in central England on Friday for their first joint visit since announcing their engagement on Monday.

Knauf said Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II’s weekend residence near London, was a “very special place” for Harry and that he and Markle, 36, had spent time there together during their 16-month romance.

Harry, 33, was also baptised in the chapel and it was the place where Charles and Camilla, who were both divorced at the time, received a religious blessing following their civil wedding ceremony in 2005.

– ‘America’s loss is our gain’ –

Kensington Palace, Harry’s official residence, said in a statement that the royal family would pay for the wedding and Elizabeth II “had granted permission for the wedding to take place in the chapel”.

The exact date of the wedding will be revealed later.

The queen has expressed her approval and tributes continued to pour in on Tuesday from other royals.

During a visit to a school in London, Prince William’s wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, said she and her husband were “absolutely thrilled”.